Control for power presses



May 21, 1946. w. F; GA-YRIN'G 2,400,639

CONTROL FOR POWER PRESSES Filed April 25, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 e? F|G.I

l2 \\k\ /f f /f gl l :i ,U

so LL FIG.5 A) -J C) INVENTOR d 0 L WALLACE EGAYRING j a 3 BY 3 9L @im(39 I ATTORNEYS.

May 21, 1946. w. F. GAYRING 2,400,539

CONTROL FOR POWER PRESSES Filed April 25, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2

INVENTOR.

WAL L A CE F. GAYRING ATTORNEYS.

May 21, 1946# v .w. F. GAYRING 2,400,639

CONTROL FOR POWER PRESSES Filed April 25, 1944 4 SheejlZS-Sheel'I 3INVENTOR.

WALLACE F. GAYRlNG ATTORNEYS.

May 21, 1946. w. F. GAYRING 2,400,639

CONTROL FOR POWER PRESSES Filled April 25, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 J m InE? Q' al `Y o f @im imi t -lif E :o r- F a In iL ,i

'nnrdall INVENToR. WALLACE E GAYRI NG AITQRNEYS Patented May 21, 1946UNITED STATES PATENT 'OFFICE 2,400,639 a CONTROL FOR POWER PRESSESWallace F. Gayring, Minoa, N. Y., assignor to The Prosperity Company,Inc., Syracuse, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application April 25,1944, Serial No. 532,604

1 Claim.

to the accompanying drawings, in which like characters designatecorresponding parts in all the views. Y

Figure 1 is an elevation of this machine, when open, with a cabinetshown in section. Figure 2 is a side elevation showing the position ofthe movable shield when the press is f closed.

at a uniform temperature and humidity or air conditioned, and also meansfor insulating the heat or confining it by far for the most part. i

within the cabinet during the closing and opening of the machine.

The invention also has for its object a safety control consisting of asingle operator-operated member, as a manual, which, to effect theclosing of the press, is but momentarily operated,` together with amember, as a heat shield which moves with the movable pressing elementor head as the press closes and which controls means for de-energizingthe actuating means effecting the closing of the press, if the shieldencounters an obstruction, all whereby the operator merely momentarilyoperates the manual Figure 3 is a fr'ont elevation, partly in section,of the machine shown in Figure 1, that is,'when the press is. open.

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view showing the control and actuatingmechanisms for the movable shield guard and the movable pressing element.or head.

Figure 5 shows arrangement of three presses tended by one operator.

This machine comprises, generally, mechanism for carrying out anunderlying new method of operation of a machine which is enclosed in a.heat insulated cabinet, this method consisting in the operator merelymomentarily operating a manual, which controls power actuating meanseffecting the movement of a shield telescoping within the hood of thecabinet downwardly over the lower pressing element or buck, and in sodoing, effecting the actuation of power to a power actuating means,which effects the closing movement of the press head slowly to follow upthe 0 shield therewith but slightly behind the front out of thisposition, as the press closes, this being preferably used withand'operated by the shield. It may be used with or without the cabinetand the shield.

Safety controls for machines of this type have, for themost part,heretofore been two hand controis' which required the operator to holdltwo manuals depressed unti1 the press closed. This operation permitted aquick closing of the press head but required that the operator stay atthe machine and hold down the two manuals until the press did close. Theoperators time, however, -is a greater desideratum than the operatingtime of the press, especially where the operator attends more than onemachine and passes immediately from one machine, after operating itsmanual to close the press, to another machine.

The invention consists in the novel features Indescribing thisinvention, reference is had edge of the shield toward `closed position,and automatically disabling the motor of the actuating means, if theshield comes in contact with an obstruction, as the hand of the operatorattempting to smooth out the garment on a lower pressing element or buckat the last moment.

The invention consists broadly and more or less' speciiically inmechanism for carrying out this method, and if desired, heat insulatingthe hot head by a curtain guard normally extending across the face ofthe hot head and `movable by the closing movement of the shield out ofits normal position, this guard protecting the operator -from coming incontact with the hot head when arranging an article on the lowerpressing element and also protecting him from heat radiating from thehead, when the press is open.

The pressing machine embodying the illustrated form of the inventioncomprises, generally, in its entirety, a suitable frame, a heatinsulated cabinet, enclosing the frame, cooperating pressing elements,as upper and lower elements having a relative opening and closingmovement, one, as the lower pressing element or buck being carried bythe frame outside the cabinet, the upper pressving element-for headhaving the opening Vand closing movement; the cabinetincluding a'stationary hood enclosing the pressing element or l head when the headis in upward or open position, ashield movable into and out of the hoodand also including the movable pressing element,

this shield being open at its front and rear sidesl f but closed at itslateral sides and top and movable out of the hood to formv an extensionofthe' hood during the closing of the press, aheat insulating guard orcurtain normally closing the Lfront open side of the shield andextending across the pressing face of the head. the guard beingcontrolled'in itsmovement by the shield during themovement of the shieldout of the hood to ment` of the head 4 is further uncover the pressingface, power actuating means for the shield, power'actuatingmeans' forthe press head controlled in its operation by the movement of the shieldactuating means, and means controlled by the shield when it isobstructed' during the closing movement of the press to disable the'power actuating means for the press head, 'and a single/operating memberfor initiating the -ow of power to the actuating' means for the shield.-Some .of the be omitt'edf designates the vframe of the pressing machine;2 the lower pressing element orA buck elements may mounted on the frameabove-a horizontaltable 3 on the top forward side of the frame. 4-designates the movable press head, this being, 'here shown as carried bythe forward arm of a lever 5 pivotally mounted between its ends at 6 'onan upright 1 rising from the'frame I. The head 4,

however, may be carriedin any suitable manner.

during this movement, the ysprings I6 are addltionally loaded. As seenin Figure 3, these springs areV connected to the opposite ends ofatx-ans-v verse -rod I 8 at the lower end of the guard or curtain I2 andat I6 to the hood.v

During the closingmovement of the shield III,vr the press head 4 followsup the,v shield andj its pneumatic motors, aslcylinders and pistons. I9.

designates the cylinder and 20 the piston ofthe motor for operating theshield I0. This motor is mounted tov have' a oating'. or bodily shiftingmovement under the reaction .of the air in the cylinder against thecylinder head, when the pis. ton isv obstructed in its movement, and insooperating under the 'reaction to disable themotor for actuating thepress head 4, as willA be presently I described.

8 designates a heat insulated cabinet including the hood `9 on the upperside of the cabinet, this hood being openA at its lfront side overhang--ingthe'table 3 and closed at its rear and lateral sides and top. I vI)designates a hood-shaped shield telescoping within the hood 9 andnormally contained within the ho'od 9, when the press head 4 is openthisbeing open at its front and rear sides and closed at its lateral sidesand top. The shield I0 encloses the head 4 and the arm of the operatinglever 5, which carries the head 4. The shield I0 is here illustrated aspivoted at I I at its lower end to the side walls of the cabinet 8 nearthe axis 6 of the head carrying lever 5.

I2 'designates a burn guard or heat insulating curtain normallyclosing'the front side of the shield I Il and hence of the hood 9, thisrunning over'suitable guide rollers I3 near the top arcuate wall of theshield III and being anchored at one end at I4 to the stationary hood 9and connected at its other end to springs I5, which springs are anchoredat I6 to the side walls of the hood 9 or the main part of the cabinet.8.The front portion of this guard or curtain I2 thus extends across thepressing face of the head 4, which is heated., and when the press isopen, connes the heat Within the cabinet and prevents it from radiatinginto the face of the operator or into the room in which the machine islocated. It also prevents -the operator from coming in contactvwith thepress head when the press is open. During the operation of the machine,the actuating means for the shield I0 operates to move it from itsposition shown in Figure 1 to -that shown in dotted line (Figure 1) orfull line (Figure 2). During this| movement, the curtain l graduallywithdraws upwardly, so that the face o1Y the press head is exposed, asit nears the surface of the buck 2 orthe work thereon, and

' 4 toward closed position. The closing movement As here shown,l thecylinder is carried by 'one arm of the lever 2 I. pivoted at 22 betweenits ends t0 the frame I or any other xed part, and con-` nected at itsother end to a spring 2 3 which normallyholds thel lever from movementunderuthe l reaction of the air in the cylinder I9. The rod 24 of thepiston is shown as pivoted at its upper end at v25 toa lever arm26extendingradially from the pivot I I of the shield I0.

2'I 'designates the cylinder and 28 the piston in the'ylnder of themotor for actuating the head 4. This isan oscillatingfcylinder pivotedat 29 to the base of the frame. The rod 30 of the 4piston is here shownas connected at 3| to the joint offa toggle consisting of links 33, 34pivoted attheir outer ends respectively at 35 to the frame and at `36 tothe rearward arm of the head carry.

ing lever 5. AWhen the piston 28 is actuated, the Ltoggle 34 isstraightened, thus actuating the head is against the action ofreturningspring 31. This form of actuating mechanism is merelyillustrative and any suitable actuating or motion transmitting mechanismmay be used.

38 designates a control valve operated by a manual, as a lever 39located at the front of the machine or the table thereof. The valve-maybe of any suitable form, size and construction, and it is here shown asself-locking. It includes a suitable casing normally arranged with itsintake head 4I closed and its exhaust head 42 open, the valve memberbeing held and returned to its normal position, as vby a spring 43. Thevalve member is actuated by the lever 39 here shown as pivoted at 44 andhaving an arm 45 which through another lever, for a purpose to bedescribed, actu'- n ates the stem 41 of the valve member 40. The intakeendof the valve 38 is connected to a main line 48 for a motive fluid asair. Upon operation f A of the manual lever 33 upwardly from theposition shown in Figure 4, the arm 45 through the interposed end of thelever 46 actuates the movable member 40 of the valve 38 to close itsexhaust valve head 42 and open its intake valve head 4I, permitting airto pass from the main line past the open head 4I through duct 49 in thevalve casing to one side of a diaphragm 50 in a diaphragm chamber 5I,actuating the diaphragm 58 to shift a sliding stem 52 against the lever46 and hold the lever 48 and hence the valve member 48 in its operatedposition, this happening upon momentary operation of the lever 33.

The air also passes from the valve casing 38 through conduits 53, 54 tothe lower intake end of the cylinder I9 to actuate the piston 28 on itsup stroke and move the shield I8 out of the hood 9 toward the dottedline position (Figure 1) and f ull Aline position (Figure A2). At thesame time, the air passes from conduit 53 to conduit 55 and a pressurereducing or throttle valve 56, conduits 58 and 68 'to the lower end ofthe cylinder 21 to actuate4 the piston 28 on its power stroke, the airpressure being reducedy below main line air pressure to such an extentthat the actuation of the piston 28 isso slow as to actuate the head 4slowly on its closing movement and to merely follow up the closingmovement of the shield I8. The pressure reducing or throttle valve 56may be of any well known construction.- As the shield I8is-.movlngtoward closed position, the heat infrom zero to maximum.designates theexhaust valve of the timer. When the timer is used, thepressure builds up in the tank thereof from the pressure side of thediaphragm chamber sulating guard I8 is being withdrawn across thepressing face of the head 4 and clears the head when the shield I8 is ashort distance over the work on the buck 2. When the shield I8 reachesits closed position, its arm 26 has moved to the dotted line position(Figure 4), where it comes in contact with a yieldingly pressed thimble6I on the stem 62 of the movable member 63 of a combined intake andexhaust valve, here shown as of the same type as the valve 38. In sodoing, it opens the intake valve head 65 and closes the exhaust valvehead 66. The intake end of the casing of the valve 64 is connected byconf duits 61 and 68 directly into the main feed pipe 48. When theintake of the valve 64 is opened and the exhaust-66 closed, air passesthrough the valve 64 and conduit 68 to the conduit 68, and thence to thecylinder 21 to actuate the piston 28 with full air pressure and closethe press into final closed position. A suitable check valve 69 islocated in the conduit 68.

The press is opened by operating the manual 39 downwardly (Figure 4),thus operating an exhaust valve 18 by exhausting the air from thepressure side of the diaphragm chamber 5I through conduits 1I, 12 or bya timer 13, which may, for the present, be ignored, thus permitting themovable member 48 to be operated by the spring 43 to close its intakehead 4I and open its exhaust 42, permitting air to exhaust back from thecylinder I9, pipes 53, 54, casing of valve 38 out through the exhaustEX. As the piston 28 returns to its starting position, as will bepresently described, the arm 26 moves out of contact with the head 6l onthe valve member 63 of the valve 64 and permits the intake valve head 65to close and the exhaust to` open, permitting the air to exhaust backfrom the main cylinder 21 through the pipes 68, 58 past the check valve568 of the reducing valve 56, thence back through pipes 55, 53 andcasing of the valve 38 out through the exhaust passage EX thereof,'thespring 31 reacting to return the piston 28 to its starting position. Insome instances, a timer 13 is employed to time the opening of the press.13 designates such a timer, this being of the type known as the tanktimer, that is, pressure builds up in a tank to a predetermined degreewhen it operates a diaphragm which opens an exhaust valve. The degree ofpressure' required or the time required to build up the pressure may beadjusted by means of an adjusting screw or member 14 6I throu'gh thepipe 1 2, until it overcomes a diaphragm in a diaphragm chamber 16,which, through a lever 11, opens the exhaust valve 15 which dischargesinto the outer air directly, as indicated by the arrows 18. However,with the timer, the press may be opened at any time by operating themanual 38 downwardly to exhaust the pressure in the tank 13 through thepipe 1I, and hence from the diaphragm chamber 5I through the Apipe 12 byopening the valve head 13 of the exhaust valve 18 against its returningspring.

The cylinder and piston motor 21, 28 is disabled by the shield I8 or theadvance edge thereof coming in contact with an obstruction, as the handof the operator. The stopping of shield I8 is illustrated by dot-dashlines (Figure 1). When the shield I8 comes in contact with such a'nobstruction, the shield I8 is momentarily stopped. This causes thereaction of the air on the piston 28 to move the-eylinder I8 bodilydownward, thus moving the lever 2l on its pivot against the action of aspring 23. Such movement causes the lever to open the normally closedvalve head 88 of an exhaust valve 8l against the action of its spring82, this valve being connected to conduits 83, 84 to the conduit 58, sothat the cylinder 21 is opened to the exhaust of air, and the piston 28free to return to starting position under the influence of the spring31. Thus the press head 4 opens, although the shield i8 does not return,and may, when the obstruction is removed, continue on to its fullyclosed position. However, if this occurs, the obstructing force beingremoved, the cylinder I9 returns upwardly to its normal position underthe pull of the spring 23, so that the exhaust valve head 88 is againclosed and the cylinder 21 open to the intake of air. Hence, the presswill be then closed, although the shield I8 is and has been in closedposition.

'I'he piston 28 is returned to starting position when the press opens byair pressure constantly applied to the upper side of the piston 28,through conduit 85 connected to the upper end of the cylinder I9 and tothe conduit 68, which is connected in the main line. There is thus adifferential pressure on opposite sides of the piston 28, but thepressure face on the lower side of the piston 28 is greater than that onthe upper side, because the pressure area of the piston on the upperside is reduced an amount dependent upon the diameter of the piston rod24. Hence, whenthe conduit 54 is opened to the main line of airpressure, as when the valve 38 is open, the pressure on the lower sideof the piston 20 is greater than and overcomes the pressure on the upperface of the piston 28. When, however, the intake Valve head of the valve38 is closed, and the exhaust valve head opened, the pressure on theupper 28 returns to its starting position under air pressure takendirect from the main line through the conduit 85.

The cabinet isprovided with a suitable exhausting fan 86, the outlet 81of which may be connect.. ed to a chimney or other duct leading to theoutside. 'I'his heat may be reclaimed or used for conditioning ofgarments.

Owing to this control and the shield, a press of this type may be safelyoperated with one hand and by a momentary operation, thus eliminatingvthe time the operator heretofore been side of the cabine required toexpend in waiting iorthe press head to -close.` Asshown in Figure 5,three presses A, B and C are operated by one operator. After placinggarmenton press A. shel operates control `39 --and immediately leavesfor press B and so on to press C, et al;Y On conventional presses, sheiScompelled to stand at machine until it closes and v then move to nextpress. By'this method, op- 1 erator's time issaved and complete safetyis prolvided. Because of the cabinet I and lguard I2. the temperature ofthe room in which the machines are located may be air-'conditioned andthe temperature and humidity kept constant, and furl lther noappreciable amount of heat radiates from 2,4oo,oso y I Y .I

which the movable element is normally located.

Y closure means and operate the upper pressing element being movabletoward and from the lower,

the lower element being carried by the irameoutlanci means supportedbythe the movable upper pressing including a hood portion in frame`for'carrying element, the cabinet the hood portion having an openingthrough which the upper pressing element is movable dur-` ing theopening and closing movement. animpen i'orate shield movable out of andinto the hooded portion and movable out of the same in advance of themovable pressing element. the shield having imperiorate top and sidewalls telescopingin f the hood portion, the lower wall of the shieldbeing open, a closure ior normally closing the opening o! the hood andthe opening o1 the shield.'

and operating mechanism operable upon each ms.-`

chine operation to move the shield out of the hood into position tocover the other pressingelement and work thereon in advance of theclosing movement of the movable pressing element, open the element intopressing coactionwith Athe lower pressing element, and to operate themovable pressing elementi shield and closure' means in the reverse orderupon opening f the press, whereby there is a minimum of exchange ofatmosphere between the interior and exterior oi' the cabinet during thepress operation.

WALLACE F. GAYRING.

